


Hey, kid, you might wanna take a few steps back

by Pharavari (orphan_account)



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Family Drama, Hostage Situations, Hurt Peter, Hydra (Marvel), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Precious Peter Parker, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-15 11:22:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13029990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Pharavari
Summary: Hydra starts to show up again and so does Steve. Tony is under all the stress of this as he tries to protect the youngest Avenger from ever getting hurt by his mistakes.





	1. One

Looking back at the beginning of the semester was like seeing a completely different universe than the one Peter related to. Even taking out variables such as spider-powers and his involvement with the Avengers, it came as a genuine shock that Peter had friends who were a part of the in crowd.

Why Peter chose now in the middle of art class to think about that was mainly due to the lack of commitment to the subject. Gwen brought up a point earlier today in gym, when she congratulated Peter (as a joke) for this being the first time he hadn't faked an injury to chill out the whole second period in the nurse's office.

He started packing his folders away like everyone else. He scribbled a last few things on his paper and the clock changed as well as classes until everyone was released for the weekend.

Peter walked home hoping to find crime on an hour and a half detour from the school to his aunt's apartment. His idea of being a hero wasn't limited to crime, he just happened to enjoy stopping that the most. The adrenaline was an amazing feeling he got from it.

Spider-Man was eager to earn his name as "Queens friendly neighborhood hero."(And honorary Avenger, he swore that would be the full title one day.)

Throwing on his suit, he kicked off the best part of his day.

He looked at the city upside down from a strand of web. The glow of the sky and faint blue hiding on the back of buildings distant from the sun were all just icicles hanging from the ceiling. Peter considered photography sometimes.

He flipped off his web and dropped+landed sideways to a building. He started running down the brick hoping to get enough momentum to jump from this tower to the one two streets across, which was a goal he set about a week ago. A gust with the force of torando kicked up behind his feet until he came to the edge and jumped.

And just like the yesterday he failed. Miserably. Peter got back up embarrased and webbed his way through the city.

"Today's report;

Got this cat stuck in a box out of the box

Bought these two lost Korean speaking ladies food and taught them helpful English phrases so they didn't get lost again on the subway

Someone tried to vandalize a car, stopped that

Oh and I jumped from that old building to that hotel that's like, two streets across going parralel to it. Wait, did I tell you I made that like a mini-challenge for myself? Took a while but I did it, yay.

Anyways it was fun.

Not really a lot today. I'm just going to end patrol early. Myeah. Ciao."

Peter left his message for Happy.

He was at the top of the hotel and because it was winter, it was night. Despite the time on his phone displaying 7:32. Three+ hours of patrol wasn't actually super long, and since there was no school tomorrow Peter planned on keeping this up all night after he went to Liz's house.

Her dad was gone but she would never know that was Peter's fault. She would be moving too by the end of the month. And Peter had thought about what he did from Liz's point of view- he just left. That was a bad move and Peter hadn't just wished things between them would be ok, he put in an extraneous effort to make things better.

Normally, it was unusual to see some one be more irritated by work ending and then going to hang out with friends, but... "Peter Parker." -that name figuratively meant "opposite of normal."

At the corner of his eye, his spidey sense spiked over a mountain. Spider-Man froze and the red-blue frisbee thrown at him stuck to his arm.

Peter flipped the disc over and right in the center was a white star as smooth as the shield itself. He could see his gasp like smoke in the chilly air.

"K-Karen, ask Tony if it's okay if I talk to him at the compound later."

"Peter I am detecting three other heat signatures nearby, however this is unlikely as you are on a roof..?"

"Yes, Karen, I'm aware. Thank you." Peter webbed a sash and secured the shield on his back.

The spider cleared his throat, "Look, this is a really cool shield. I am incredibly sorry for even getting my fingerprints on it, I also would feel really extremely bad if I accidentally took this from you because of a misunderstanding..." Peter rocked on his feet trying to act under-prepared to lure out whoever was hiding.

His spider-sense reached heights he had never even felt before.

"If you are Captain America, please press one. If you are a bad guy, please just don't press a trigger, that's all." Peter was considering every possible escape plan, which was abnormal. 

His spider sense was acting like he was going to get nuked and stabbed all at once. It really hurt his head just from the ringing of his sixth sense (Perception of danger.)

Somehow holding Captain America's shield didn't feel right.

Peter remembered why Spider-Man wore the mask, so his enemies couldn't see him scared. So, despite the freezing air and a thin material suit, Peter stopped shivering.

_Would it be better to leave right now? Or was something going to happen?_

Then Peter heard his name, his real name, shouted out in horror. It was Iron-Man's voice right behind him.

***

The nurse at the desk stared blankly at the ungodly sight in front of her. "DOCTOR NAAM!" She screamed. She was hired because she was very calm about who came in to the front desk, but the child had just passed out with his head hitting the hard wood. The bang on his skull was loud enough to draw her "hidden" level of attention away from the sign in sheets. "Dr. Naam, please.." She screamed again holding the kid's head over the desk so he didn't hit the floor too. The blood on the table was thin and a brighter red than the lights.


	2. Two

Spider sense was an invisible force, of course Peter pictured it as a graph to comprehend it better. These spikes he kept getting were tearing him apart.

Tony cursed himself a lullaby and to its credit, it had the same soothing effect on him as a real one did to a child. Peter was taking in shortened breaths in between each 100ft r wave (that super tall skinny mountain on EKGs.) His sixth sense trumped all five others with horrifyingly detailed visions leaking into them.

Mr. Stark was in front of him in full iron-armour. "Would you leave the kid alone?" He loured.

"Why didn't you?" A voice asked.

"Wha-?" Peter balanced out on his feet having defeated spider-sense temporarily. Captain's shield reflected the moon as Peter moved in front of his mentor.

Now wasn't a good time to ask questions; You either had to know the subject or leave. That's basically the vibe Peter was getting from this. If he were smart enough to realize that's what Tony wanted him to do, he probably would have stayed anyway to be honest. The kid truly ran on loyalty and not brain, because he prepared to fight for, protect, and guard his mentor's life. No hesitation.

Tony flipped up his face plate to reveal a man who hadn't slept in days since Peter last saw him.

Steve Rogers stepped into the pale light.

The spider eyes went as big as the moon. He was seriously considering saying "hi," but Tony was looking at him. He was begging for the kid to act mature and shut up with his eyes alone, quite effectively.

"Captain," he saluted.

"Goddammit," Tony sighed.

"Tony," Steve said. The base of his voice was legitimate concern for his old friend. The rest, could have been stress from a mix of things. He sounded wise and tired. Tony just sounded graveled.

"Mr. Stark," Peter whispered.

"Would you please go home?" Tony asked.

Peter didn't flinch at the fluctuating tone of his voice. He had overheard Pepper talk to Tony an awful lot about how bad it was for him to stay up all night. It was taking Peter sometime to word this, but he recognized the signs of Tony about to physically wreck himself. "..Clearly you need to sleep, it's like actually not good for your health. I'm sorry."

"May wants to know where you are," Tony told Peter as the first excuse he could think of.

Peter looked at Captain America and to his surprise, he met him with an easy smile.

Spider-sense struck like a clock at midnight.

Peter swallowed this terrible feeling in his gut. He gripped the star bearing shield in his gloved hands. Then flung it off the roof and shot it with a web to push it faster away from them.

"I promise I will give that back in a minute," Peter pivoted to face the confused looks of his heroes. His hands were in the air as the universal sign for "unarmed."

The poor Steve Rogers honestly seemed lost.

"Who are the two others with you?" He asked crossing his arms over the spider-emblem.

Captain paused, "Hawkeye,"

Clint took his cue to come out of hiding.

Peter figured this made all three heat signatures then. Steve, Clint, and Tony (Tony  _might_ _have_ been close enough when Karen scanned the roof. He wasnt sure but it made sense)

"Spider-Man, we want to talk to you," Clint explained why they showed up. "So neither of us want to fight, that's good to know."

Tony sighed, "Kid, I really want you to meet these people one day, however as of now you two are the most wanted persons in America," Tony pointed a finger at both of them, he crossed his arms. "You," he stopped himself from saying Peter's name and just made eye contact, "you shouldn't be hunted down by the police because they think you're with them. You are way to young, and I am going to have a heart attack. Capisce?"

Peter was quiet. His shivering from the cold might have been mistaken as a nod.

Steve and Clint were both nonplussed when they saw Tony act like he was Spider-Man's dad. The rogue Avengers weren't sure how old Spider-Man was, and if Tony brought it up it couldn't have been good. Clint was going to ask later but,

Peter started hyperventilating again, his knees buckled and he dropped to the concrete. He was about to take off his mask when the three other Avengers asked what was wrong. "T-that's it, you guys can't be the only people here, w-we need to go, I don't know what is happening, but like this whole sixth sense thing, there is someone watching us," The mask was barely above his nose and Tony was trying to ease the kid down before he revealed himself or worse.

Tony actually understood what he just said pretty well despite it sounding like fast paced babblish.

The iron gauntlets were ready to blast someone. He hesitated to ask but remembered his teammates from before that day in Germany. Not just those two, but everybody. "Watch him," Tony said. 

Peter pushed himself back on his feet. 

"What did you say?" Clint asked.

"I have this danger sense power, I swear I don't typically pass out from it like that, that was... really weird. But, someone else is here."

Clint equipped his weapon. "Cool,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was short because I wanted to establish the relationships a little bit further for the plot i am going to do. However I hope you still enjoyed it as well as that preview of the near future in the end of the last chapter.  
> You guys have no idea how much kudoses and your comments mean to me, it makes me feel like I'm doing an ok job at writting in English and encourages me to study the language harder.


	3. Three

Whoever else was here intended to hurt someone. Tony had done tests on spidey sense and he knew it was more than just anxiety induced hyper-awareness. It was real.

Tony was a few steps infront of everyone else. The corners of the roof were a mess of crates, but for the most part it was like a steppe that cut off in a perfect square.

Steve watched Spider-Man carefully. The more he thought about what "young" meant, the more he saw a nine year old kid standing in front of him. He knew in the back of his head Spider-Man was at least eighteen, granted that wasn't very old. Either way Steve didn't want him to get hurt.

"Friday scan the roof for any people, exclude Peter & Karen, me, Arroz, and Captain of the boy scouts."

"Yes sir," Friday's voice came back a moment later, "One person detected not saved in my data bank."

She pulled up a grainy map on Tony's screen and highlighted a green shape under the ledge of the roof. Tony flew down to the side of the building where he snuck up behind the guy.

The black suited agent was pushing himself against the wall to stay on the paper thin ledge. 

Tony was about to throw him to the top of the roof, except then he saw the hydra symbol embedded on the man's chest. Tony pushed the guy into the wall with so much preassure that you could almost hear his hand break a few of his ribs.

"Every one of you can **** ***** ******** **** ****."

"Hey quick note, people that threaten my family don't see much of my good side."

The guy spat, "hail hydra," at his face. "Just let me do my job and I'll gladly end my life b'fir you do." He tossed up a grenade from behind his back and it landed in the center of the roof.

"No," Tony yelled trying to catch it before it was out of range.

The grenade landed eight feet in front of the trio.

Steve was already running towards it prepared to sacrifice his body as a shield. Then the grenade was smothered in webs before he was there. Peter webbed Steve back and the bomb went off almost completely contained.

Tony had let go of the Hydra agent deciding on what was most important to him, but smoke was already a major substance around him.

Hawkeye didn't have a mask to cover his face with and was coughing up black. Taking a look, Peter's pure heart wanted to help him immediately. He tore off the red mask of his costume and covered Clint's mouth before he inhaled anymore smoke. 

No one could really see except for when Tony flew down- then they could see the glowing eyes and arc reactor in his chest.

"Is anyone bleeding?" 

There was a bit of coughing from Clint, but he managed to choke out "I'm fine."

Same for Captain. Peter hadn't said anything for two seconds until after he stood up and told Tony shakily, "Your armor is damaged."

"Friday told me."

Peter coughed up into his hands.

Tony changed his answer to, "I'm okay, I'm sorry. Thank you." 

Peter nodded and fiddled with his web-shooters to get the gunk blocking them out. "Every one is okay? I can get help... It was nice meeting you. It was an honor, I'm a big fan of you Mr. Captain America and Hawkeye. I'm gonna go get your shield for you,"

Tony grabbed Peter's arm, "This is serious kid you need to come to the compound with me, now."

"Wait a second," he said unclearly.

"Peter, no. What're you going to do? Limp back to queens?"

Iron-Man rocketed into the sky with Peter in his arms like the time he fell into a lake. It was good that Peter had calmed down before they got off the ground otherwise he would have risked slipping out of Tony's hold thousands of feet above New York.

"Don't you dare say this is for my safety," Peter warned before he even asked a question. Or did he ask? Tony was lost in his own world of "what if's" right now.

However from that statement he assumed he knew what the question was, 'I want to know which of us that guy was after, this could potentially be a fatal threat to May, you, Pepper, Steve, Clint and his family. Call May when you get there and tell her youre staying there for tonight."

"He was one guy, he's gone." Peter said that like he was dissapointed in Tony.

"He was part of a gang that I happen to know very well is full of murderous traditions, terrorism, and people that won't have a problem making your death look like an accident for years."

Peter knew Iron-Man's origins. Everyone did. Rich billionaire, kidnapped for months by terrorists, made it back and hero in a mech suit. Maybe it was because he knew he didn't want to fight with someone who reminded him of Ben, or maybe he figured Tony's fears were coming from PTSD and arguing over the subject could make him feel worse, remember more. However for that reason Peter kept his mouth shut and let the anger burn up inside him.

As soon as they got there, Tony unlocked his phone and gave it to Peter. Pepper was outside, arms crossed, watching Tony frantically exchange the device. Friday had messenged her to wait outside for them. So for three minutes she stood in a jacket, pajama bottoms, and flip flops tapping her foot on the drive way before she lost her toes to frost bite.

The conversation Tony was having with his protégé was interesting to her however. 

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pepper, he can't leave here okay? Please watch him."

"Babysitting? You-"

Tony pulled Pepper into a hug and the strawberry haired woman was so confused. "There is a possibility someone is watching you and they aren't afraid to aim for your head or his, I need him to be safe."

* * *

Hydra. Hydra. Hydra.

Tony flew around downtown Manhattan. He hated to admit it, but he wasn't quite sure what he was looking for anymore.

Everything was ordered as scrambled as his life.

He might have to work with Natasha to get info on Hydra. It seemed like the best option.

Steve and Clint were gone amongst other issues. He had finally tracked them to that roof and they were gone. It was reassuring to know they didn't want to fight anymore and alive.

* * *

 

Pepper handed Peter an old "Stark Expo 2014" shirt. Peter looked up from his phone for the first time after randomly pressing numbers. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"He wouldn't mind if you kept it. Did you already call your mom?"

Peter put the black shirt on over the red spandex, "My aunt- she doesn't really want to hear me,"

"Call her," Pepper told him. She was serious, "Parents get worried about their children when they don't."

Peter hesitated, "yes ma'am." He squeaked. He pressed the buttons on his phone in order of a number. Pepper walked behind the couch and leaned over to see the screen.

"Are you going to divide her phone number by pi? Because thats a calculator." Pepper commented.

Sweat ran down Peter's face, he was an awful lier.

Pepper comforted him. "It's okay." She cooed. "I'm sure your Aunt is worried about you, I'm sure she'll listen if you call her."

"She left the house when she found at I was Spider-Man, yesterday." Peter said trying not to cry. 

"Your Aunt, is she the type of person that just needs time to cool off?"

Peter nodded. "Why?"

"You're her nephew, she still loves you." Pepper had never tried to be this comforting before. Yet it seemed to have a slow effect on Peter.

Peter called her for real this time when Pepper left to make herself tea. May picked up the phone.

There was a bit of a silence.

"Peter?" The voice on the other side came out as tired through the staticy quality of the phone.

"May, I am so sorry for," Peter knew this was going to be a long conversation. He sucked in his breath. "Everything."

"I know it's a lot we need to discuss," May said irritated.

"I'm staying with Mr. Stark tonight."

May. Exploded. At those 9 syllables as soon as they came out of his mouth.

Then the phone hung up. Peter was holding it outstretched like it had been possessed. Then May's name showed up on the screen again. Peter swiped it to answer.

"It's fine. Don't call back." May managed to say through her teeth.

Peter was speechless.

He slid off the couch while Pepper was still making tea and snuck out the front door. Realizing he didn't have his mask, Peter took the Stark shirt and tied it around his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few things I should definitely have mentioned at the start, this story takes place right after spider man homecoming. I forgot exactly how far apart that was from civil war but I think it was around six months or four. 
> 
> I know May seems crazy right now, but stick with me here.


End file.
